Shakespeare and Carnival: After Bakhtin (Early Modern Literature in History)

This collection of essays is the first to reassess a range of Shakespeare's plays in relation to carnivalesque theory. The plays discussed include: 2 Henry VI; Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Night's Dream; 1 & 2 Henry IV; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Hamlet; Measure for Measure; The Winter's Tale; Henry VIII . Contributors re-historicize the carnivalesque in different ways, offering both a developed application, or critique of, Bakhtin's thought. This volume makes an original contribution to the study of change and continuity in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-12 ‘A short report and not otherwise’: Jack Cade in 2 Henry VI....Pages 13-35 Carnival and Death in Romeo and Juliet....Pages 36-60 The Carnivalesque in A Midsummer Night’s Dream....Pages 61-82 Shakespeare’s ‘Battle of Carnival and Lent’: The Falstaff Scenes Reconsidered (1&2 Henry IV)....Pages 83-96 Facing Puritanism: Falstaff, Martin Marprelate and the Grotesque Puritan....Pages 97-122 The Evacuations of Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor)....Pages 123-151 Towards a Theory of Play and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet....Pages 152-176 Shakespeare, Carnival and the Sacred: The Winter’s Tale and Measure for Measure....Pages 177-210 ‘Swimming on bladders’: the Dialogics of Reformation in Shakespeare & Fletcher’s Henry VIII....Pages 211-227 Back Matter....Pages 228-232 Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Notes on Contributors 10 1 Introduction 12 2 ‘A short report and not otherwise’: Jack Cade in 2 Henry VI 24 3 Carnival and Death in Romeo and Juliet 47 4 The Carnivalesque in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 72 5 Shakespeare’s ‘Battle of Carnival and Lent’: The Falstaff Scenes Reconsidered (1&2 Henry IV) 94 6 Facing Puritanism: Falstaff, Martin Marprelate and the Grotesque Puritan 108 7 The Evacuations of Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor) 134 8 Towards a Theory of Play and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet 163 9 Shakespeare, Carnival and the Sacred: The Winter’s Tale and Measure for Measure 188 10 ‘Swimming on bladders’: the Dialogics of Reformation in Shakespeare & Fletcher’s Henry VIII 222 Index 239 A short report and not otherwise / Stephen Longstaffe Carnival and death in Romeo and Juliet / Ronald Knowles The carnivalesque in A midsummer night's dream / David Wiles Shakespeare's battle of carnival and Lent / Franc̜ois Laroque Facing Puritanism / Kristen Poole The evacuation of Falstaff (The merry wives of Windsor) / Jonathan Hall Towards a theory of play and the carnivalesque in Hamlet / Phyllis Gorfain Shakespeare's carnival and the sacred, The winter's tale and Measure for measure / Anthony Gash Swimming on bladders : the dialogics of reformation in Shakespeare & Fletcher's Henry VIII / Gordon McMullan.